Michael Swickard's new novel about New Mexico

Santa Fe New Mexican - The U.S. Supreme Court decision upholding the federal health care law Thursday came with another surprise tucked inside: States suddenly can decide whether or not to expand Medicaid, a government low-income health insurance program.Medicaid has a major footprint in New Mexico. It covers one in four New Mexicans to the tune of just under $1 billion in state dollars, or 16 percent of the state budget. The federal government picks up most of New Mexico’s Medicaid tab, which totals $3.8 billion.But here’s the rub. Before Thursday, the federal law contained a provision punishing states that didn’t expand Medicaid, beginning in 2014. States not expanding the program faced the potential of losing all Medicaid funding from Washington.Thursday’s Supreme Court ruling stripped that punitive measure from the law, suddenly releasing states from that huge financial threat. Gov. Susana Martinez’s administration on Thursday was still digesting Thursday’s ruling and couldn’t say what it would decide to push for — a full-scale expansion of Medicaid, as called for under the law, or something else. Read More News New Mexico

Ruling nixes penalties for states that don't expand Medicaid, puts New Mexico in limbo

KRQE - The state of law enforcement in the tiny prairie town of Vaughn, southwest of Santa Rosa, is so bad the only qualified member of the police department is adrug-sniffing dog. “They are a police department that should not exist,” said Gordon Eden, cabinet secretary for the New Mexico Department of Public Safety. “If they do not stop what’s going on in Vaughn, New Mexico, we will go to the New Mexico attorney general … to take additional action.” Vaughn is a community of 450 and has a police department being run by convicted criminals. In fact, the only fully trained and certified member of the Vaughn Police Department isNikka the police dog. “I’m very leery about getting rid of police officers for just not being able to carry a gun or something,” said Vaughn Mayor Paul Madrid. Read More News New Mexico

Alamogordo Daily News - A New Mexico wildfire that destroyed 242 homes and businesses is now 95 percent contained as crews finish mopping up around the fire's perimeter.

Crews demobilized some equipment Friday as they restored containment lines around the 69-square-mile Little Bear fire to a more natural state. Firefighters were also able to take advantage of rain on the blaze's southern end. The lightning-caused fire is burning near Ruidoso and started June 4. Businesses in Ruidoso are open despite some road closures due to fire operations. Meanwhile, crews continue fighting the Whitewater-Baldy blaze, the largest fire in the state's recorded history at more than 465 square miles. That fire remained 87 percent contained Friday. It began as two lightning-caused blazes on May 16 that merged to form one giant wildfire. Read More News New Mexico

KOB - The New Mexico Corrections Secretary has cleared a high-level administrator of wrongdoing after an investigation into alleged prison rape by one of his former employees. Our 4 On Your Side's Chris Ramirez has been investigating this case and has the latest. Secretary Gregg Marcantel announced Thursday that former Los Lunas State Prison warden Anthony Romero did not thwart an FBI investigation into alleged rape by his former employee, a prison captain. Marcantel said Romero will return to his present job as deputy director of adult prisons on Monday. That job is a promotion from his previous job as prison warden. While Romero was under investigation, he was reassigned to do special projects for the department. The investigation began after a lawsuit filed by a former prisoner claimed Romero impeded an FBI investigation into allegations of prison rape that allegedly occurred at the prison while Romero was in charge. According to the lawsuit we first told you about a month ago, then-prison captain Kenneth Carrejo allegedly handcuffed an inmate to office furniture and raped him several times. But Marcantel told reporters Thursday that the department internally investigated those claims against Romero and found he had done nothing wrong. Read More News New Mexico

Washington Post -The House of Representatives voted 255 to 67 Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in contempt of Congress, capping months of partisan bickering over an ongoing congressional investigation into Operation “Fast and Furious.”
More than 100 Democrats left the House floor before the vote, but 17 moderate Democrats stayed behind and joined with Republicans in voting for contempt, robbing the Obama administration and congressional Democrats of its main argument that the vote was a blatant partisan maneuver to discredit Holder and the White House in an election year.
All but one of the 17 Democrats has previously been endorsed by the National Rifle Association, which said it would be tracking Thursday’s vote in determining future endorsements. In a letter to lawmakers last week, the NRA said, “It is no secret that the NRA does not admire Attorney General Holder.” But the gun rights group said it supported the contempt resolution because the Justice Department was obstructing a congressional investigation. Read full story here: News New Mexico